User blog:AnnikaDoll/Incomplete Pages Problem
Hey guys, I'd like to talk about the massive amounts of incomplete pages we have here on the wiki. It's kind of a problem. I have addressed this twice before, but want to officially re-address it now. Many of these are started projects that have not yet been finished, while others are mostly finished but are just missing little bits of information If you are working on pages consistently, or have pages that are just missing only a tiny bit of info, that's totally fine. ::Ex.)I'm waiting to publish all 26 ABC Mews before I actually work on everyone's relationships sections, so all 26 pages will be incomplete just in those sections for a while. I understand that we all have things going on in our lives that make it hard to finish projects within a reasonable time, and I know some projects require a lot of planning and research which makes finishing them that much more tedious. But, I'd like to ask that we slow down a bit on creating new, to-be-completed pages when there are other pages that still need finishing. Posting new finished content when you still have incomplete projects is fine, but I mostly mean creating new pages that will not be finished for a while when you have other pages that still aren't done. Having several incomplete pages is understandable, but if it's over 40-50% of your stuff, maybe it's a problem. Some users here, both active AND inactive, have quite a lot of unfinished projects, and I don't want those pages to end up deleted because they are never finished. For inactive users, we unfortunately can't do much there. But for the rest of us, we can try to do better! I don't want to be mean and prohibit new page creation until pages are at least a little more full, but I'd really love it if we could start filling up pages more before making new ones. Or, at least stick to one series/project before going to another. It's fine if you want to make changes to already-finished pages/series, but it's new incomplete stuff that pops up that I take issue with. A near-completed page involves more than just putting an infobox, a few pictures, or some lists. I know those can "fill up" a page visually, but they don't always tell us enough about the character/place/thing/etc. that the page is made for. The reason I bring this up is because I'm tired of sifting through pages with bare bones content or with not enough content. I'm tired of seeing pages that have not been touched in months or years while new ones that are unfinished or bare bones continue to pop up and add to the collection. Many pages that were incomplete from older users have already been removed, but we are still seeing more incomplete pages come in from many new/random users, and many active users. I don't want to be mean and start making restrictions/bans or start removing pages. I've already had to use quarantines to keep incomplete, unsatisfactory pages out of categories to hide them from visitors until they get worked on enough to be removed from quarantine. I also don't want to have to be stricter about this to a point that being on the wiki isn't fun. As it is, admins have to enforce a lot of rules that some users still break anyway, even after being warned or having their edits undone (we're pretty passive/lenient about that as it is, you know. Don't take advantage of that). I know everyone here has a lot of ideas that they want to get out, but can we please try to get enough information prepared per page before making new ones? It may not work for you, but it might help if you plan ahead and keep track of all your stuff that needs finishing, including series, pages, characters, infoboxes, etc. If you have a huge amount of pages, it may be hard to keep track of them all and you will forget what you were doing! ::Ex.) My strategy is to have word docs of everything I want to make ready to go before I post, and I will gradually work on a page throughout the day until it has at least a few sections and paragraphs. I have folders upon folders of new projects I want to start, but have not posted to avoid making the incomplete page category even bigger. All I ask is that you be responsible for your stuff and try to finish things as best you can instead of starting something new that will eventually remain unfinished. ''' Me and Royalhistoria have been pretty kind to extend the time to 1-2 years of allowing incomplete pages to sit there until becoming candidates for deletion, but if this gets so much more out of hand, I may need to think about reducing that time (after consultation, of course). Especially since that leeway was due to most incomplete pages being from inactive users. '''However, as we've gotten more people coming in, we have more incomplete pages that are from semi-active to fully active users, and it's getting to be a lot. I really want this wiki to be at its best to draw people in! I don't like the idea of a new user or a visitor clicking a page out of curiosity only to be met with a bare bones page or a page that just has a bunch of "To be edited" notes on it. I want the pages on this wiki to represent it properly! To represent the creativity of its users! But when so many pages are not done, it doesn't make us look so good! Over half of our page count is of pages that are incomplete in some way. Far less than that are pages that are genuinely pretty empty, but we still have too many. I won't point fingers because we all have stuff being worked on and we all have pages we haven't thought about in a while, or projects we've hopped between (I tend to do this a lot myself). It happens! But let's try to keep up with our stuff, okay? That's all I am trying to ask of everyone! I am so sorry if I hurt anyone's feelings over this--this isn't my intention and this is not a callout blog. I want only to bring awareness to the issue. I love this wiki and only want it to shine more, especially since the fandom may become more active with new official content coming out. So, please finish your projects, or at least come close to being done, before you start new ones! Please also note that you are 100% welcome to request the deletion of any pages you have no intention on working on anymore. If you have any suggestions/ideas, or want to express some opinions, do feel free to in the comments. Thank you! -Annika Category:Blog posts Category:Community Update Blogs